The World Changing to Green

Standing on the balcony on Saturday morning (9:30am), I felt that I should be seeing the leaves growing on the trees and bushes in front of my eyes. The sky was completely blue and the sun was hot, reaching 24°C during the afternoon - nearly sun bathing weather. Everything was still and the only sound was of birds, mainly the incessant call of the skylarks, now returned in force.

That there was so little green seemed anomalous. The process of leaf growth should be happening there in front of my eyes. The scenario was so convincing - the swift passing of increasing leaf growth: days in a few moments. It was only extraneous noise that drew me away - someone beating a rug out of sight (or maybe their husband, for all I knew).

Instead, I have had to watch the crocuses grow. Across several days the first buds had been expanding millimietre by millimetre, then the first flow opened on Saturday. Four on Sunday (13 March):



Some 20 or so now, all small, white and yellow early crocuses:





I have had to check when I can expect the world to turn green. The first similar crocuses opened around 21 April last year. It's a gradual process after that, but from the last couple of years, tree leaf growth doesn't normally happen until about mid April. Żabieniec (Frog Spawning Ground) from 19 April 2009:



Compared to this 1 March 2011 picture in a previous post.



Early garden plant growth (and fighting white wagtails) on 11 April 2010:



Whilst on 17 April 2010 garden life was in full swing, although tree leaf growth was still in its early stages.